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Erminia (Ermie) Gauna and Kitty Pacheco La Yarda Interview

Publication date: 2006
Usage: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
Topics: La Yarda (Lawrence, Kan.), Hispanic Americans -- Housing -- Kansas -- Lawrence, Mexican Americans -- History -- Kansas -- Lawrence, Mexican Americans -- Social conditions -- Kansas -- Lawrence
Publisher: Watkins Community Museum (Lawrence, Kan.)
Contributor: Lawrence Public Library (Lawrence, Kan.)
Language: English
Item Size: 3.3G

Sisters Erminia Gauna and Kitty Pacheco were interviewed by Helen Krische in 2006 as part of an oral history project to document the La Yarda and Mexican-American communities in Lawrence, Kansas. La Yarda was a neighborhood of worker housing provided by the Santa Fe Railroad for Mexican-American railroad workers; located near the Kansas (Kaw) River, the neighborhood was largely destroyed by a major flood in 1951. Erminia and Kitty grew up in North Lawrence and in East Lawrence, and attended the Baptist church. They describe their family's migration from Mexico to Lawrence, and share memories of their mother and father. Erminia and Kitty describe social activities in the Mexican-American community, living conditions in East Lawrence, their father's work for the Works Progress Administration (WPA), their parents' gardens, and their experiences picking potatoes. They share their memories of the Great Depression, and of the German POW camp in Lawrence during World War II. They describe speaking Spanish as children. Erminia and Kitty describe family foodways, and their experiences receiving healthcare. They also discuss their experiences with discrimination and segregation as part of the Mexican-American community in Lawrence.